DARPA brain implants may help soldiers returning from war with traumatic brain injuries. The brain implants would use light, not electricity, to coax brain cells in and out of action. The technology may apply aspects of the emerging science of optogenetic neuromodulation, which requires genetic engineering of brain cells to respond to light.

The DARPA brain implants would be electrodes or optical fibers on the modified brain's surface to monitor the brain's electrical activity and then beam light pulses to stimulate the brain as needed to help it function normally, even though it's damaged.